It has been a pretty stressful week as my day job went through a first-quarter deadline crunch. MNL48 activities took a back seat as I had to focus on beating the deadline, accommodating requests, and justifying misses.
On top of that, I had to do a review of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, which is a brutal but outstanding game to say the least. Which is why writing a blog was relegated to the periphery of my consciousness.
But I was determined to write this one, especially since the life story of today’s subject really made me reflect about the various reasons why a girl decides to join an idol group. Many fans have romantic notions as to what a girl’s motivation for joining an idol group should be. The truth is, for a vast majority of them, the desire to have a job and enter the entertainment industry is a lot more common than just simply being a J-pop or idol fan.
Ruther Marie Lingat doesn’t look like someone who went through so much before the MNL48 audition came calling. At 20 years old, Ruth can pass off for 17, has a voice she can pass off for 15, and can play like she’s 13. Suffice to say, I never actually took notice of her during the audition, so preoccupied was I with my own bets.
But Ruth became an ever constant presence in my consciousness after becoming a member of MNL48 because she was one of those closest to Kaede who I was already following at that time. I really started to notice her when she aggressively liked my MNL48 related posts in my Instagram.
All idols are expected to fish people to increase their fanbase or to at least get some exposure. If that was Ruth’s intention, then she certainly got my attention. She loves to make long messages in Instagram stories and makes a point to reply in comments in her official Facebook page.
Ruth seems to relish her role as an idol. She sure has a working and practical understanding of what she has to do to survive in an environment where 57 talented girls are fighting for only 16 spots. Little did I know that when it comes to fighting fate, Ruth had a lot of experience.
During the First Generation auditions, there was an ongoing argument as to who are “worthy” to be part of the group. AKB48 itself has never discriminated against applicants who weren’t exactly idol fans. But since no one had attempted a proper J-idol group of this scale in the Philippines, that fact has unfortunately gotten lost as long-time J-pop fans demanded for members to be “real J-pop fans”.
Ruth was a victim of such indiscriminate fault finding. Someone even posted something about her in a certain FB page. I certainly was aware that something was said about her then, but as I do not follow the page, I didn’t know exactly what was said. All I know, is that a year after that very unfortunate incident, Ruth was cheered when her inclusion in MNL48’s 3rd single senbatsu. She won the fight yet again.
The road to get to MNL48 has not been easy for Ruth. In fact, someone even described her life story as “MMK worthy”. I even suspect that the reason Ruth has never really elaborated about her past is because she probably didn’t want pity votes flung her way. She’s actually very open about it, but she also makes sure that it isn’t the focus of any conversation about her. But I could argue that there are a lot of positive things that can be learned from the things she had to go through.
You see, Ruth became the family breadwinner at a time when she should have been studying. The girl is sending herself to school in her 2nd year of high school. What was I doing in my 2nd year? Thinking about video games, probably. Maybe worrying about school and the next episode of Ghost Fighter. I couldn’t even imagine earning money at that age.
Ruth’s brother, Ronie, gave me a rundown of some of the things she had to do to earn a living: clean nails at age 13, free-lance modelling at 16, doing some online business, working in restaurants like Kenny Rogers and Jollibee, singing in a band in food parks during weekends, doing hosting gigs and singing in events. At around the same age, I was more worried about whether I still have a stock of hair gel! I really felt like a wimp in comparison.
It’s not like I had an easy time growing up myself, but it was never like this. When you’ve practically given up your teenage years for the sake of her siblings, it requires extraordinary selflessness. Ruth had wonderful dreams for herself and her family, and it seems that she got by on the force of her dreams alone.
Ruth isn’t even the eldest child: she was the third and only girl in the brood of five. Yet she displayed a determination beyond her years. An almost single-minded focus on making a better life for her two younger siblings. According to her brother, Ruth sends him and their youngest to school.
All of this things are happening in the backdrop of a smiling, giggly, energetic young lady who’s starting to make a name for herself. All those long messages of comfort and encouragement suddenly having an added and much more deeper meaning to me. It was a stroke of good fortune that she is close with Kay, because it means I will have an easy time following her.
In a week’s time, Ruth will join the rest of MNL48 on the stage to perform in a concert where people will be cheering and screaming her name. A summation of a year of very hard work and preparation. But for Ruth? It’s another milestone in her long journey to the stars.
3 Comments
Ruth is super kind and lovely, i really love her ❤
In one of there campaigns when they were still aspirants, she was the only who approached a guest band in umagang kay ganda and asked them to vote for her.. talking about determination. Thank you mr stan.. im your fan
Yeah, she’s bubbly and gutsy at the same time. I like that about her.